What should I do for Finance Internships in the summer?

Currently I am a sophomore at University of Maryland's Smith School of Business. Though it is on US News and World Report for the top 24 business schools in the country, it isn’t really on the radar for investment banks in general. I major in Finance and Accounting and have taken some beginner course work on accounting and business statistics. I currently go to this school so I am able to go to Baltimore and I live in New Jersey so I can do anything in NJ or NY. I have a 3.57 but as a sophomore, banks aren't exactly looking for interns of my experience. Due to this I am asking if anyone can give me any advice on how to approach my future. I am willing to do anything even cold calling even if it is for no pay. What ever it takes to get some coverage and experience that will look good for Wall Street. What paths are open to me for the coming summer and how can I strengthen myself as an applicant for an investment bank? I have already started my search for a finance internship since mid fall and have come to no real solutions. I assume mostly due to my lack of experience as a sophomore. I would be very grateful for any words of advice that may help me even if it helps a little.

 
Best Response

I'm kind of in your spot (sophomore at a non/semi-target: Rutgers), but it have two interviews for finance internships, one is a small hedge fund and another is with UBS PWM. Eventually, I want to do IB, but where I am is a start and hopefully I'll be able to leverage the experience for a IB SA BB next summer. So, to help you out, I'll let you know that you have to be really aggressive to get something. The advice I got from my sister's finance friends was to network with alumni in finance. Email/call and ask for an informational interview and hope that they'll pass your resume around or offer you an internship at their firm. I have a few people who offered to pass my resume, though it has yet to yield an interview, but I definitely think it'll help me sometime later considering I wound up talking to a director at Citi. That's one way, but really the way I managed to get my interviews was mainly through cold emails. I sent out ~30 emails to MM banks and to hedge funds and applied to BB banks through their online system though I doubt that'll get me anywhere. As well, I applied to internships listed on Doostang. (PM me your email if you need an invite). It is important that your email cover letter be persuasive and that your resume be amazing. Your resume needs to be really good and every single thing you have listed on their should relate to finance/business somehow. Be detailed and say what your result was. Make it obvious that you are willing and eager to learn. Also, if there are any finance internships through your career center, obviously apply to those. And perhaps try getting finance experience in the finance department of a F100 company.

Oh, and another thing, Chang sounds Asian....apply to diversity internships if you can. And join diverse business clubs or clubs related to finance. There's a great finance club here at Rutgers dedicated to getting people onto the Street and I learned a lot there. I think its one of the better things listed on my resume esp since the name specifically says I want to get into IB.

 
 

I can't really give more advice than what CitySophisticate can. I'm in the same situation as both of you, a sophomore at a non-target school in Canada, McMaster University and have a GPA of 3.96...

Just apply to everything, talk to alumni, do everything and anything possible and you might land something. I managed to get two interviews, one with TD Securities for a non-Ibanking position and one with RBC Capital Markets, IB analyst...

Personally my thinking is that even though I can't get a IB internship this year, its absolutely important to have some sort of finance work experience to stand out. Perhaps somebody could confirm this? If I don't get either job, of which one I've already been rejected for, I'm thinking of doing commercial banking as a business analyst because some experience is better than none and it might just help me meet somebody that could help me get a job later.

If you're willing to work with no pay, I know of a friend who worked at a hedge fund over the summer for free so that might work out if you're desperate. How he went about with it was that he told them that he read a book that the hedge fund manager wrote, gave them a call saying he was interested in the book and asked whether he could work for free. Over time, he got paid and he has a full-time offer from them now.

On top of all of that, similar to what City said, go for any finance internships at any companies because at least its somewhat relevant work experience?

And if you can't get a job, spend time improving your resume so you'll be able to get a job the next time. I've already registered for my CFA, they don't check too carefully so its possible, done my CSC, the Canadian equivalent of the Series 7, gone for WallStreetPrep Financial Modeling, Valuation Investment Banking BootCamps and if your school has a trading floor, do your Bloomberg Equity and Fixed Income Certification. All these qualifications will make your resume stand out when it comes to third year. Hopefully the economic situation will be much better by then and there'll be a lot more jobs for all of us =P

 

Look into CorpDev or Corporate Strategy at a F500 near school/home. You will learn a lot of similar things to banking, such as valuation and forecasting revenue streams from a business entity. It's not exactly the same but for a sophomore it's pretty darn good.

If you can't do that or some of the other suggestions, see if you can work with an econ/finance professor as a research assistant. Especially doing things like financial modelling or forecasting.

Just don't sit on your behind. My sophomore year I worked in budgeting/forecasting for a city with around 250,000 people. Junior year I did CorpDev at a F500, and then with the contacts I made at both places I had 4 FT offers from BBs by October.

 

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